Pirates at Reds (April 14, 2014)

Pitts-burgh! Pitts-burgh! Pitts-burgh! Think the Reds fans can rally together and rattle the Pirates players tonight like the Pittsburgh faithful did to Cueto in last season’s playoff game? I would love to see it.

Homer Bailey has been good against Pittsburgh over the past few seasons, including his first no-hitter back in 2012 in Pittsburgh. Of course he did lose his last 2 starts against the Buccos a year ago. The Reds need him to be good again tonight so the Reds can string together their first 2-game winning streak of the season.

Doh! Just realized my mistake, or should I say mistakes. Cards are playing in Milwaukee, which means the odds are they are not playing the Cubs. I know, hard to believe, but even old Sarge is prone to senior moments. Go Reds!

Oh Preach, you had to remind me. Those years were so painful. 8 years in a row(maybe even more), we didn’t have anywhere near an ace to start game one. REMLINGER???, Tomko, Harnisch, Haynes, Liddle and Wilson all started the Reds 1st game of the season around that time. 🙁 the dark, dark days of Reds pitching.

Not to overreact, but….
The first few weeks of this season really have me worried that we are about to have the opposite problem… no hitting, tons of pitching. Almost like we over-corrected. Lets hope we solved it as of late, as it seems we have.

our only hope I think rests with Mesoraco and Frazier. We know what we will get from Votto, Phillips and Bruce, good. We know what we’ll get out of LF and SS and that’s not good. And we can’t expect much from Hamilton. The two hitters that could easily outperform projections are Meso and Frazier.

For a good read, go over to Fangraphs and check out Dave Cameron’s new article about the new transfer rules and dropping the ball on purpose to get easy/cheap outs. Ron Washington was just kicked out of the SEA/TEX game on a bases loaded force out at home, where the catcher clearly caught the ball, tug home, then dropped the ball transferring it to his throwing hand to get the guy at first. Seattle challenged the call, and the umps ruled the guy safe at home.

I left when the tarp was rolled out and am back home. It’s still raining here, but not hard. I was surprised when they suspended the game because it wasn’t raining any harder then. I think they timed it then because the game was tied and calling it wouldn’t prejudice either team.

The CBJ haven’t been as bad versus the Pens as 0-5-1 would sound to someone who just cherry picked the record. For the most part CBJ played them tough and were competitive. They need a breakthrough win in games 1-3 if they are to make a series of it. I suspect if they can get one, the second one won’t seem nearly as hard for them to get.

Except for that OT loss CBJ came up totally empty versus Boston and Pitt but more than held their own versus the rest of the east. It was unfortunate they left some points on the table down the stretch and ended up as a wildcard instead of 3rd (or even 2nd in their division). If they would have gotten in that intradivisional 2 verus 3 series, they would have had a really good shot at making the 2nd round.

@Steve Mancuso- Thanks for reminding us about supporting the Redleg Nation website. The merchandise being offered for sale to support the site is really some nice looking stuff. I bought a hat that will have Redleg Nation on the front of it, its really a sharp looking cap, can’t wait to wear it proudly. Everybody should give the merchandise a look-see, some cool looking stuff at a good price. Plus you get to help support our awesome Redleg Nation website that we love so much. Go Reds!

Absolutely. I remember going through basic there was only a fence separating the Navy running track from the Marine one. I was always amazed at how precision the drills were you guys ran as opposed to us. We were just glad to finish in one piece. Much respect. Thanks for your service.

Sean Marshall was in the Reds dugout for the game tonight. Even as it rained throughout the game, he was out by the railing (not under cover) encouraging his teammates. It was great to see him at the park.

This was probably discussed above, but Brantley talked about the HR barrage being due to pitchers being afraid to pitch inside, given last year’s history between the two teams, the injury to BP, etc. Don’t know if he’s right, but pitchers do have to pitch inside to be effective. Maybe with the ball a little wet, they were afraid it would slip.

Are Reds fans in attendance tomorrow going to be required to wear construction helmets? Just curious, as we don’t want flying baseballs hurting anyone – just ask the pirates RF how painful it is to take one in the cheek.

Off topic, and regarding replay, heard a stat late Monday night that as of last Thursday, there had been 41 calls upheld and 26 reversed?? Or was it 46 and 21?? At any rate, that doesn’t speak very well to the notion that umps were usually getting calls right before replay came along. And there have already been a handful of calls that SHOULD have been overturned but weren’t…..And, keep in mind that the team that got cheated on a replay call then LOST its replay privilege thereafter. … I don’t think replay is such a terrible idea, but introducing this “challenge” stuff is weak.

BTW, only 28 calls were reversed in 185 games. Considering all the calls made in each game, that’s not a horrible rate. I know, there were probably some bad calls that weren’t challenged, but overall, umpiring in the MLB at least is better than NFL officiating.

I suppose, but over the course of 185 games, how many calls come up that are so close as to even be worthy of a replay. Two per game, three maybe? Suddenly the number of blown calls looks like a greater percentage of our sample size. And don’t forget that a replay screwup can deprive a team of a challenge later in the game that might have been used on a blown call that otherwise won’t be factored in here. If replay is here to stay, I’d like to see it not involve “challenges.”

@SERGEANT2 – I was in the USAF from 89-93. Played ball for the 694 Intelligence Wing from Ft. Meade. We played the 3 Army teams from Meade, the Navy team from Meade, and the USMC team from Meade. We also played the 3 USAF teams from Andrews AFB, the USAF team from Bolling AFB, the USAF team and joint Navy/USMC team from Langley AFB. We played a couple exhibition games against the cadets from Annapolis. That league was really competitive. There were a lot of good ball-players in the military.

Might as well start the speculation now: thoughts on who should/will take the mound in the Top of the 7th this evening? It’ll be interesting to see Price’s management of the bullpen this evening. With the pitcher’s spot due up first in the Bottom of 7, I’d like to see a double switch–using LeCure or Parra (to go 2 innings) and switching Pena for Mes, or Heisey for Ludwick and plugging them into the 9-hole. Doubt this will happen. Best guess: Ondrusek for one inning.

Your point is good, but of the 2 most probable options, the double switch must be Heisey for Ludwick. UNder no circumstances do I want Mesoraco out of the lineup and late in the game, I want Heisey in LF rather than Ludwick. With LH hitters due up 1st & 3rd in the top of the 7th, I would also probably opt for Parra over LeCure, but that’s almost a coin flip since either pitcher should be in for 2 innings. I do not want to see Ondrusek anywhere near the mound for the finish of this game.

That’s going to be one bitterly cold stadium for a baseball game(s) this evening. Fortunately, it looks like any rain/snow/sleet/freezing rain, or whatever else the baseball gods feel like throwing into this season’s mix, will innundate someone else’s game tonight.